Made to celebrate the 75th anniversary of Ingersoll Corporation, this newsreel shows some of the company’s products including military ones. First, the famed Ingersoll Disc used in agriculture and construction around the world is seen. At 1:22, a bulldozer is seen clearing land using the discs, and at 2:00 they are shown plowing under sugar cane stubble. At 2:40, the Lark an amphibious vehicle similar to a DUKW, is shown. Ingersoll worked for 17 years in the field of amphibious vehicles. The LTV-3 landing track vehicle amphibian is seen at 3:30, including an LVT-5 shown at 3:48, and the LVT-H6 with a howitzer. At 4:43 the Nike Hercules is seen, which Ingersoll provides boosters and nozzles for.
The Landing Vehicle Tracked (LVT) is an amphibious warfare vehicle and amphibious landing craft, introduced by the United States Navy. The United States Marine Corps, United States Army, and Canadian and British armies used several LVT models during World War II.
Originally intended solely as cargo carriers for ship to shore operations, they evolved into assault troop and fire support vehicles. The types were known as amphtrack, “Amtrak”, “amtrac”, etc. (portmanteaus of “amphibious tractor”), and “alligator” or “gator”. The contract to build the first 200 LVTs was awarded to the Food Machinery Corporation (FMC), a manufacturer of insecticide spray pumps and other farm equipment, which built some parts for the Alligators. The initial 200 LVTs were built at FMC’s Dunedin, Florida factory, where most of the improvement work had been done as well. The first production LVT rolled out of the plant in July, 1941. Later wartime LVT production was expanded by FMC and the Navy to four factories, including the initial facility in Dunedin; the new facilities were located in Lakeland, Florida, Riverside, California, and San Jose, California.
The LVT-3 was developed by the Borg Warner Corporation as their Model B in April 1943. For the first time, the crew could disembark from a ramp at the rear, thus avoiding fire from the enemy. For this, two Cadillac engines were incorporated in the design, placed in the sponsons and connected trough a hydramatic transmission to a final drive in the front of the vehicle. These were the same engines and transmission as those on the M5 Stuart. The transmission had four forward and one reverse speeds. On landing, the transmission was shifted automatically to a multiple speed land gearbox mode. At sea, it was limited to the first and second gear. The rear ramp was hydraulically operated.
The cargo bay was deep, large enough to accommodate a Jeep and an entire company, or 4 tons of cargo. The gunners had a step to operate their heavy machine-guns, located between the cargo compartment and the crew cabin. The latter was nearer to the bow than on other LVTs. The driver sat in the middle, with the co-driver on his right. They were protected by five bulletproof glass windows giving an excellent peripheral view. The track links of the Bushmaster were of a rubber bush type, while the usual ones had a dry pin type. Each track had 103 track segments per side, 12 in (30.4 cm) wide. Appliqué armor could be added, raising the weight and decreasing the cargo capacity to 1.3 tons (2900 lbs). 2962 were built between 1943 and 1945 by Ingersoll and Graham-Paige.
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